The Lioness

A Novel

De: Chris Bohjalian

Narrado por: January LaVoy, Grace Experience, Gabrielle De Cuir

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A Washington Post Best Book of the Year • A luxurious African safari turns deadly for a Hollywood starlet and her entourage in this riveting historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant.

"The best possible combination of Hemingway and Agatha Christie — a gorgeously written story about the landscape and risks of Africa, whose edge-of-your-seat plot makes it impossible to put down.”
—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, great swarms of wildebeests crossing the Mara River, and herds of zebras storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests—including Katie’s best friend, Carmen Tedesco, and Terrance Dutton, the celebrated Black actor who stars alongside Katie in the highly controversial film Tender Madness—will spend their days taking photos, and their evenings drinking chilled gin and tonics back at camp, as the local Tanzanian guides warm water for their baths. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure: fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive.

What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie Barstow, Hollywood royalty, prays for a simple thing: to see the sun rise one more time. A blistering story of fame, race, love, and death set in a world on the cusp of great change, The Lioness is a vibrant masterpiece from one of our finest storytellers.

More Than One Lioness

Exciting, fast paced, and a page turner. A quick read with lots of action. I never predicted who instigated the tragic events that happened on this African safari.

The Lioness is a classic!

Chris Bohjalian had done it again; he's a wonderful author who knows how to tell a story and keep the reader mesmerized.
The narrators were exceptional! I could not put this book down.
I listened to the audiobook all day until I finished. Wonderful story!

Suspense

Good story and read well... Adventures on a safari that turn bad. Keeps you intrigued. Good variety of characters.

Unpredictable!!

Bohjalians books are always unique. You never know what you are going to get. I felt like I was on a safari and actually had to skip grizzly parts-but thats what I love about his books. Every detail is so researched and real. Great original plot.

Fair - average in every way

Sort of like a soap opera on the Serengeti with a little KGB and gun play mixed in. Nothing to see here.

Safari with a different twist

This book reminds me of my own safari experience. No kidnapping or movie stars. But, the adventure was unforgettable.
The story is well told and quite believable.
I recommend this book to those that seek the thrill of an African safari and the excitement of a good crime novel.

A bit grizzlier than expected, but another quality story by Chris B.

The book was a bit grizzlier than I had expected, but it was another quality story of the authors. The multi-character narration is something he excels at, and these were well developed by n short order.

Loose threads at end

I'd recommend this to anyone who liked The Guest List. The end unraveled a little, as though the editor said 'wrap it up fast'. Little insight into what happened and why to Katie at the end.

It was easy to get lost and confused.

Lots of characters going back-and-forth in time and every time we did, it was like starting a new book.

Blood, and gore, and animals, oh my

Bohjalian is by far my favorite author, but this was edging on too bloody and graphic even for me. I have read his other violent books (The Flight Attendant, The Guest Room) and thought they were gory, but this might be over the top. While an interesting story it veered into no man’s land for me.